English literature
Choose one of the poems from your readings in Chapter 33: “Poetry for Further Reading” and compose a written explication of that poem. The poem you select must be sophisticated enough to sustain a detailed analysis. You may choose a poem by the same poet you discussed in the Module 5 Discussion Board who comes from a different culture than your own.
- Your explication should be 3-4 pages.
- It should analyze one or more of the poem’s elements (see readings from chapters 27 and 28 for specific elements).
- Your explication is not a summary of what the poem is about. Nor are you expected to unravel the poem’s “meaning.” Rather, you are explaining how the poet used a particular poetic element, and you are analyzing how that element affects the rest of the poem.
When writing your explication:
- Choose a poem that is sophisticated enough to sustain a detailed analysis.
- Include a thesis statement that states the element you are analyzing and why.
- Follow a systematic writing pattern by analyzing the element on which you are focusing line by line or stanza by stanza.
- Provide textual examples (words, phrases, and lines) from the poem to illustrate your analytical statements. Cite your sources using correct APA formatting found in CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements. See the tutorial in Module 1 for an explanation on how to do this.
- The UNC Writing Center and The Purdue OWL provide detailed examples of poetry explication.